As I age I am increasingly aware of a decline in peripheral awareness. I can focus well enough and within that focus I seem almost as competent as ever. But I am also aware that I am less aware.
Concentration is a wonderful thing and allows grand tasks to be accomplished. A fisherman on the shore catches more fish if he purely studies waves and other subtle signs. But that may lead to not noticing the storm approaching or even the tide becoming dangerously high.
That bothers me about aging politicians _ and aging movements, for that matter. Young people are able to handle multiple distractions, refocus or even incorporate them if necessary. Older people seize on ideas like life preservers or pacifiers, and obsess completely. They are fine with the core idea, they just forget that it is one among many. More than that, they hardly notice that _ like storms approaching _ conditions often change.
That is the real danger in old folks remaining as leaders. Even if they do not become senile, their days as smart opportunists are long gone. Through eyes misty or sharp they still make out that one single shining goal for which they have always striven. But everything around them is different and they have no idea.
Sad for them. Calamitous for followers and society.
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 